Friday, December 4, 2009

A Feminist Response to Edward Cullen

Okay, I know I posted on the whole "Twilight is anti-feminist" thing already, but I'm a college student with way too many resources available to me to go without sharing some more info I came across.

The following in an exererpt from Twilight and Philosophy, and this particular article is titled "EDWARD CULLEN AND BELLA SWAN: BYRONIC AND FEMINIST HEROES . . . OR NOT" by Abigail E. Myers.

"A feminist response to Edward Cullen might have been, “ Look, youseem like a really nice vampire, but if being with you meansgiving up my family, my friends, and my hopes for highereducation, I think I ’ m going to seek out a relationship thatallows me to have romantic and sexual love as well as allthat other stuff. ” And a nonabusive vampire would have reallymeant it when he said that the beautiful mortal girl was betteroff without him, and would have allowed that being mortal,human, and young includes making your own mistakesand not being insulated from every possible threat, real orimagined.

But that doesn’t cross Bella and Edward ’s minds. The endingthey find is truly a fairy tale, not because it seems happilyever after but because it lacks cause and effect, moral responsibility,and real relationships. And if that ’ s Stephenie Meyer ’ sidea of a fairy - tale ending, maybe we ’ d all better make surethat we take the Twilight saga for what it is: a fairy tale, nomore worthy of emulation than Sleeping Beauty. The test?Ask yourself if Sleeping Beauty is a role model. I’m guessingthe answer is no. Well, then, is Bella a feminist hero? Maybewe can answer that with another question: Will vampires everget over their taste for blood?"

Make me want to show all those teenage girls something with substance. Jane Eyre maybe?

About Us, La SuaVoce Designs

We (Angie and Sarah) are twin sisters who are currently attending college. We have numerous passions including art (Sarah’s a painter and drawer and Angie loves to photograph), writing (future novelists? Hopefully!), and of course jewelry-making.
Go to our etsy.com store at: suavoce.etsy.com